Passing the Light

 Gentle people, let us rise, and sing
The last sweet hymn before the lights go out.

Every ending is annihilation,
And at each turning we will go
In ceremony of light or darkness
Carrying a candle, or a rope.

Board the barge that leaves the coast;
Whisper your name just once, then face the deep.
Ignore the comfort of the lights on shore,
For the price of passage is abjuration.

Look toward the greater lights, just out of reach,
Known heretofore only in exaltation,
In the Technicolor dreams of Bedlam,
And in the oracles of lamentation.

Spring awaits us on the farther shore.

December 2013